Seba Smith - Wikipedia Seba Smith From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Seba Smith (1792–1868) Seba Smith (September 14, 1792 – July 28, 1868) was an American humorist and writer. He was married to Elizabeth Oakes Smith, also a writer, and he was the father of Appleton Oaksmith. Contents 1 Biography 2 Select publications 3 References 4 External links Biography[edit] Born in Buckfield, Maine, Smith graduated from Bowdoin College in 1818 and then lived in Portland, Maine. He edited various papers, including the Eastern Argus, and founded the Portland Courier, which he edited from 1830 to 1837. He was one of the first writers to use American vernacular in humor, likely inspired by writer and critic John Neal.[1] His series with the New England character Major Jack Downing was popular after its start in 1830. Under date of November 26, 1833, John Quincy Adams records in his diary an encounter with Colonel David Crockett, newly returned to Congress, whom he quotes as saying that he (Crockett) "had taken for lodgings two rooms on the first floor of a boarding-house, where he expected to pass the winter and to have for a fellow-lodger Major Jack Downing, the only person in whom he had any confidence for information of what the Government was doing."[2] His dry, satirical humor influenced other 19th century humorists, including Artemus Ward and Finley Peter Dunne. He is also credited as being a forerunner of other American humorists like Will Rogers. He also penned the American folk ballad "Young Charlotte".[3] Seba Smith is credited with the first recorded use of the word "scrumptious". He was also the originator of the saying "there is more than one way to skin a cat".[citation needed] Select publications[edit] 1836 political cartoon depicting Smith's Major Jack Downing alongside Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren The Life and Writings of Major Jack Downing, of Downingville, Away Down East in the State of Maine (Under pseudonym, Major Jack Downing.) (1833)[4] John Smith's Letters With "Picters" to Match (1839)[4] Powhatan: A Metrical Romance in Seven Cantos (1841)[4] May-Day in New-York; or, House-Hunting and Moving...(Later published under the title Jack Downing's Letters.) (1845)[4] Dew-Drops of the Nineteenth Century, ed. (1846)[4] New Elements of Geometry (1850)[4] Way Down East; or, Portraitures of Yankee Life (1854)[4] My Thirty Years Out of the Senate (Under pseudonym, Major Jack Downing.) (1859)[4] The Great Republic, ed. (1859)[4] References[edit] ^ Kayorie, James Stephen Merritt (2019). "John Neal (1793-1876)". In Baumgartner, Jody C. (ed.). American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 86. ISBN 9781440854866. ^ Adams, John Quincy (1876). Adams, Charles Francis (ed.). Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848. 9. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott & Co. p. 39. OCLC 625500. ^ Laws, G. Malcolm (1964). Native American Balladry: A Descriptive Study and a Bibliographic Syllabus. Philadelphia: The American Folklore Society. p. 221. ISBN 0-292-73500-6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ljungquist, Kent (1994). Facts on File, Bibliography of American Fiction: Through 1865. New York. pp. 226. ISBN 0-8160-2115-5. Rolde, Neil (1990). Maine: A Narrative History. Gardiner, Me: Harpswell Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-88448-069-0. External links[edit] Wikisource has original works written by or about: Seba Smith Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seba Smith. Wikiquote has quotations related to: Seba Smith Works by Seba Smith at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Seba Smith at Internet Archive Seba Smith at Find a Grave Authority control GND: 138290199 ISNI: 0000 0000 8218 7702 LCCN: n50013213 MBA: c119fc92-1f25-4f3e-9eb7-9bd04b638845 NLG: 96000 NTA: 130919128 SNAC: w68w3fhh SUDOC: 061180068 VIAF: 35697328 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n50013213 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seba_Smith&oldid=996336022" Categories: 1792 births 1868 deaths American humorists Bowdoin College alumni People from Buckfield, Maine Writers from Portland, Maine Hidden categories: Use mdy dates from November 2011 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013 Commons link from Wikidata Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLG identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Languages Latina Nederlands Edit links This page was last edited on 26 December 2020, at 00:10 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement